The Contra Costa Taxpayers Association is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to promoting accountable, cost-effective and efficient government and opposing unnecessary taxes and spending.

Welcome to The Taxpayer's Corner! For 80 years CoCoTax, the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, has promoted "Good government at affordable cost." If you live, work or travel through our county, we work for you, the taxpayer!

Read our posts, and watch our upcoming videos for information on current issues and proposals that affect your wallet and your life-style. Leave a comment, and join our non-partisan efforts to protect taxpayers from unnecessary taxation.

Our mission statement is simple and straightforward: "Promote good government at affordable cost."

Here's what the first goal - "good government" means to the 400-strong membership of CoCoTax:

Public agencies conduct ALL business in open meetings at which members of the public are free to comment and criticize the agency's plans and actions. (Note: under the Ralph M. Brown Act which governs public meetings in California, there a very few exceptions for matters which may be conducted in closed session; see "The Brown Act" page here.)

The public is informed in advance of all meetings, and of all proposals to come before the agency.

Elected officials restrain the urge to go beyond their chartered responsibilities. For example, when a city council decides to declare their city a "nuclear-free" zone, while their streets are pocked with potholes, they're not doing their job.

Elected officials perform their sworn duties to the best of their abilities, and adhere to the ethical rules pertaining to their office. They put their constituents' needs ahead of their personal ambitions or any partisan objectives...they are true public servants first and foremost.

President’s Report - March, 2018

We’re ramping up for the June election, and will be prepared to file ballot arguments in Martinez on-time. Please contact me if you hear of any measures of which we’re not already aware; many government agencies wait until the last possible minute to file the required ballot resolution.

RM3

This regional measure proposes to increase Bay Area bridge tolls by a total of $3 over seven years. It is highly regressive, in that it will add substantially to the commute costs of those commuters who cannot take advantage of public transit. Further, it will provide new revenues to the MTC, which has failed miserably in managing recent major projects. First on that list is the Bay Bridge, which came in years late, and four times over budget. (A comparable bridge was built in South Carolina on-time and on budget.) We are partnering with a variety of Bay Area and state-wide taxpayer groups on the campaign to defeat the measure.

Measure A

This was a special election measure to change the governing board of the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District from nine appointed members to five members elected directly in the district. We supported this measure, and it passed overwhelmingly.

WCCUSD Parcel Tax

The school district board polled for a new parcel tax to extend the existing tax, ostensibly to increase pay for teachers. Because of our previous concerns over the manner in which the board has failed to adequately address the findings of the school bond forensic audit, we advised the board we would oppose any new tax at this time. Latest word is that the board has postponed consideration until the November election. We will continue to push for competent fiscal management by the district.

State Measures

We are studying seven state ballot measures, and will share our evaluation shortly. So far, there is only one we will probably oppose, but will not have an opportunity to file an opposing ballot argument.

Various State Bills

We have weighed in on a basket of new proposals in the Assembly and Senate, including stack-and-pack housing, new transit developments, and union-favoring Project Labor Agreements in the Department of Corrections. More to follow.

Jack Weir, President

(925) 899-4298 cell

jweir39@aol.com

A Handbook for How CoCoTax Does Business

CoCoTax has developed a handbook to help our members and others better understand how we operate. The handbook will also serve as a reference source for tools to evaluate tax and bond proposals, as well as the agencies that seek voter support for the measures they propose.

The impetus for the handbook began as a desire to help new and prospective members get up to speed quickly in the important work of Contra Costa Taxpayers Association. Beyond that, our goals included making more visible our focus on the “good government” side of our work.

The organization of the handbook is roughly: who we are, the principles of good taxation, what we believe as CoCoTax, how those beliefs are reflected in positions on important issues, criteria to evaluate taxes, bonds, and taxing authorities, templates to help do that, FAQ’s, and links to valuable information. An addendum offers advocacy tips and thoughts for CoCoTax internal projects.

We believe the handbook captures in a single document much of the good work that has been done by many individuals over several years. We also believe that it is not a document that is or will be finished, as it will no doubt prompt thinking that will continue to strengthen CoCoTax and its operation even further. For this reason, we invite and welcome your comments. Please send them toinfo@cocotax.org, and they will be reviewed for inclusion in periodic updates to the handbook and the templates.

Issue Updates

Who enjoys paying taxes? In the words of Benjamin Franklin, “…in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Sales tax, property tax, assessments, federal, state, special districts, cities, other local agencies – all add up. But what is reasonable? Where does your money go? For 80 years, the Contra Costa Taxpayers Association, also known as CoCoTax, has been studying, informing, educating and advocating for taxpayers on any matters concerning taxation in this county. With their focus on “good government at affordable cost” the non-partisan association is “dedicated to promoting accountable, cost-effective and efficient government and opposing unnecessary taxes and spending.”

Find Your California Representative

A lot of publicity has gone to CalPERS and its pitiful 1% rate of return. CCCERA is using a 7.75 expected rate of return when for 2011 it earned 2.7%, the 5 year average is only 2.4%, and the 10 year average is 6.2%. Retaining that 7.75% rate of return will push more expenses to the governments in CCCERA including the county and ConFire. That will mean dollars that would go to services will be directed to pension payment.

Contra Costa $100,000 Pension Club has 787 Members as of 7/1/2013. A 10% increase from 2012 numbers.